The Commerce City building division is preparing for a big year in residential improvement projects after the rollout of the city’s first online permitting program last fall.

“Contractors come from all over the metro area, and they drive for miles and miles for nothing more than 10 minutes of interaction at our front counter,” said Patrick Buckley, building official for Commerce City. “This saves them time tremendously.”

Building permits are necessary safety precautions for tons of run-of-the-mill home improvement projects like roofing, replacing a boiler or furnace and electrical upgrades. In the past, people would take their permit applications to the Civic Center at 7887 E 60th Ave.

The online permitting system is only for small home projects that don’t require an engineering plan submitted to the city.

“This is for types of permits that we consider ‘over the counter’ permits,” Buckley said. “We just need a description of the work and we’ll issue a permit right back with the necessary inspection scheduled.”

Buckley said contractors doing repetitive work like water heaters and installing fences will definitely be jumping all over this to avoid that extra trip to the Civic Center.

The building department guarantees a 10-day-or-less turnaround on all building permit reviews, and only a four day wait for reviews on home improvement projects. Those over-the-counter, no plan permits will be approved and ready in the same day, said Commerce City spokeswoman Michelle Halstead.

“To take only 10 days on a very complex housing development is pretty significant,” she said. “This is a much more efficient and flexible way for people to submit their applications. There are hundreds of small residential projects in Commerce City every year.”

There are 48,000 Commerce City residents now. That number is projected to top 70,000 in about 20 years. New and updated houses will always be in demand, Halstead said.

The city also instituted Weekend Warrior permits for residents who are looking to get a home improvement projects done during the weekend last minute. People can come in on a Friday with everything they need for their building permit and leave the same day with the permit in hand.

There are no additional costs with the online permitting system other than the initial permit fee.

Since the introduction of the program, Buckley said about 25 residents or contractors have taken advantage of the expedited process.

“It was hard to get the word out, but we expect to issue several hundred permits in 2014,” he said.

Thornton and Aurora are the only other cities in Adams County that have online building permit applications. Westminster residents can schedule their inspection online after they drop their forms off in person.

Go online to bit.ly/1eaJSQi to use the online permitting system for Commerce City.

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